Evil Geniuses Launch Gridlock — A New Competitive Minecraft Esports Series

North American esports organization Evil Geniuses, together with content creator Anthony “Couriway” Salzarulo, has unveiled a new competitive Minecraft series titled Gridlock.

The project is designed to unify different parts of the Minecraft competitive community, bringing together speedrunners, SMP creators, and PvP players into a single structured format.

In Gridlock, teams of two compete in 30-minute matches on a custom-built 1000×1000 block map. Instead of relying purely on survival or direct combat, the mode revolves around a shared bingo-style objective board. When one team completes a task, that objective becomes permanently locked for the opposing side. The winner is determined either by total points at the end of the match or by completely blocking the opponent from scoring further.

The competition is structured across four stages, running from summer through December:

• Open Qualifiers (June 13 – July 12): Teams must play seven matches each weekend. Any duo with a win rate below 50% is eliminated.
• Bracket Stage (July 25 – August 9): The top 24 teams enter a double-elimination bracket, narrowing the field to the best eight teams per region.
• The Circuit (August 22 – November 1): Qualified teams compete in round-robin groups to secure a place in the regional finals.
• Grand Finals (December 5 – December 13): Top teams from North America and Europe face off to determine the overall champion.

The first Gridlock season will feature a $45,000 prize pool, distributed between The Circuit and the Grand Finals.